'Kings of the Dance'

There's a long tradition, dating to Anna Pavlova 100 years ago, of dancers breaking with the establishment and striking out on their own.

They make extra money. They give themselves top billing. And they get to dance whatever the heck they please.

"Kings of the Dance," which was co-produced by the Orange County Performing Arts Center and premiered there Thursday, falls quite nicely within this genre. "Kings" Angel Cox rella, Johan Kobborg, Ethan Stiefel and Nikolay Tsiskaridze are thirtysomething stars seeking more from life than another "Swan Lake."

With the promise of a program more hearty than the usual gala fare, they accepted the crowns and took brief sabbaticals from their home companies (Corella and Stiefel, American Ballet Theatre; Kobborg, the Royal Ballet; Tsiskaridze, the Bolshoi).

The "Kings" format - which has continuously changed since first announced - worked, if in a slightly schizophrenic way. The 10-minute "meet-the-guys" video, which opened the three-act show, put us in the realm of a lecture-%demonstration. Four new solos; one new 13-minute group ballet; and Flemming Flindt's 1963, one-act shocker, "The Lesson," gave the program some artistic chops.

Then there was the encore, which acknowledged what the masses really wanted - athletic tests of virtuoso spins and lilting leaps. The crowd, already on its feet, roared appreciably.

Called "For 4," it is a keeper, a poem to unabashedly beautiful male dancing, created to the lovely andante movement of Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" (all music was recorded). How refreshing in these straitlaced times to see masculine beauty celebrated, naturally and unashamedly.

It began with the dancers in silhouette, the better to see their sumptuously curved arms (the evening's fine lighting designs by Antonio Marquels). Timing was key. To begin, the dancers' echoed one another's moves in a round. The middle section was devoted to distinct solos, interrupted by different compatriots dropping in to whimsically mirror the soloists' gestures. It concluded with a balletic square dance of complex advances and retreats, and high-flying ensemble moves.

Stiefel danced crisply and imploringly, showing off his control in sequenced turns of changing positions. Kobborg was a jackrabbit of directional changes and distinct beats. Corella burst into huge side split leaps and giant jetes. Tsiskaridze was elegant, and a little restrained, in postures highlighting his flexibility and line. Like all good things, it went by too fast.

Act 2 was "The Lesson," a twisted little ballet based on Eugene Ionesco's play. It felt less like theater of the absurd and more like Hitchcock, and has begun to show its age. But it also proved a worthy acting vehicle for its stars, the Royal Ballet's Alina Cojocaru as the perky ballet Pupil and Kobborg as the sadistic Teacher (Corella scheduled for tonight and Tsiskaridze for Sunday).

Cojocaru perfectly personified the naïve, bubbly bunhead, while Kobborg made an astonishing metamorphosis from twitchy weirdo to panting psychopath. Zenaida Yanowsky, also of the Royal, was fine as the tight-lipped, overwhelmed pianist.

Act 3's four commissioned solos were a mixed bag. "Wavemaker," which Dutchman Nils Christe made for Stiefel, resonated most with this viewer. Choreographed to a John Adams selection, which the composer reused in his famous "Shaker Loops," "Wavemaker" was a tour de force of incessant quivering hand wiggles that graduated into whole-body convulsions. It provided a whole new, and welcome, platform for Stiefel.

In "Afternoon of a Faun," Briton Tim Rushton turned Kobborg into a playful sensualist. He galloped across the stage, bathed in the sunlight of three overhead spots, and threw himself on his back. The Debussy score and the occasional references to Vaslav Nijinsky's flattened poses left us in an undelineated no-man's land. Was this a mere tribute to Nijinsky's 1912 original? Kobborg, all undulating limbs, made much of a little.

In Roland Petit's "Carmen" solos, Tsiskaridze portrayed Don Jose, Carmen and Escamillo altogether, killing himself at the end (to key moments from Bizet's score). No one can fault Tsiskaridze's gorgeous positions and so-proper dancing. But there were only flashes of the bravura acting that this piece seemed to need.

In "We Got It Good," choreographer Stanton Welch cast Corella as a happy-go-lucky, tie-loosened, Dean Martin chap, an archetype done much better by Twyla Tharp years ago. But Corella is never boring to watch. With "Take the A Train" as accompaniment, he doodled about the stage entertainingly.

For these "Kings of the Dance," entertainment was nothing to sneer at. Then there was that encore. Don't exit early.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.